NFL safety played for CU's coach at San Jose State

Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre leads his Buffs on to the field to face Arizona on Saturday at Folsom Field. (Cliff Grassmick/Camera)

Duke Ihenacho was a senior at San Jose State when a new, inexperienced football coach walked in the doors and started giving orders.

"At the time, I was just so used to doing things a certain way and he came in and it was kind of an adjustment," said Ihenacho, who is now a second-year safety with the Denver Broncos. "He was more strict about things like wearing earrings or hats in meetings --little things, which naturally turns off somebody like me that's been there and is a senior."

It wasn't long before Ihenacho and his teammates got past the little things, though, and realized that Mike MacIntyre just might know what he's doing.

"He started growing on us and we started trusting him and he kind of lightened up as a coach," Ihenacho said.

MacIntyre is now in his first season as the head coach at Colorado, and some of the things he's going through are similar to what he and Ihenacho went through together at San Jose State.

Ihenacho, who played for two seasons under MacIntyre, was so impressed with what MacIntyre and his staff did at San Jose State that he's convinced it won't be long before Colorado starts winning football games on a regular basis.

"Eventually, yeah (CU will win)," Ihenacho said. "Just remain optimistic, because the players need your support. At San Jose State, a lot of times we didn't have support like that from fans. But, out here, the fanbase is incredible. The players, the coaches and the team, they need the support of the community and the school.

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"With that support, they're going to play better."

From a distance, Ihenacho is already seeing some similarities in what MacIntyre and his staff -- which is almost entirely the same staff he has at CU now -- did in 2010 to what they're doing now in Boulder.

San Jose State didn't go through a dramatic turnaround in MacIntyre's first year, which was also his first year ever as a head coach. In fact, after going 2-10 in 2009, the Spartans went 1-12 in 2010. Ihenacho broke his foot in the only win in Week 3. That allowed him to earn a redshirt year and, thus, come back for the 2011 season.

Duke Ihenacho

CU, which went 1-11 a year ago, is 3-4 right now. It's the 0-4 Pac-12 record that bothers most fans, though, because the Buffs have seemingly not yet turned the corner on being able to compete with their conference foes.

Within the locker room, though, there has been a general sense that CU is competing better in Pac-12 games than it did a year ago.

Ihenacho and his Spartans went through that experience, as well, in 2010, and he said there is merit to what CU players are saying this season.

"The way we lost was different, so I was pretty optimistic," Ihenacho said. "You could see the whole potential of the team and the direction that he had the program headed.

"Even though our wins didn't show it, we saw it. We just trusted in coach Mac and eventually he got us going."

As he did in 2010, MacIntyre has several older players on this year's CU squad. For many of them, another losing season could be disheartening. MacIntyre, however, said he's handling CU's older players the way he handled his older players, such as Ihenacho, at San Jose State in 2010.

"I'm just always honest with them," MacIntyre said. "We needed to do this, this and this. You need to improve in this. We need to do this. (Ihenacho) bought into everything we were doing, just like the guys are here."

In addition to MacIntyre, Ihenacho had Kent Baer as his defensive coordinator and Charles Clark as his defensive backs coach. Both are in those positions at CU, as well, along with several other coaches MacIntyre brought to Boulder from San Jose.

Ihenacho remembers how well the staff handled the team through a difficult season in 2010.

"They were just encouraging and optimistic," Ihenacho said. "Even though we lost games, they were still like, 'We're this close,'" Ihenacho said. "Eventually, it turned into, two years later, an 11-2 season.

"I kind of see that for Colorado, too."

Ihenacho encouraged CU fans to stay on board and to be patient while MacIntyre builds the roster through his own recruiting.

In the past two weeks, MacIntyre has displayed some fiery emotions during halftime and postgame news conferences, as well on the sidelines. Ihenacho said that's part of the package with MacIntyre.

"You're going to see a lot of screaming, a lot of facial expressions," Ihenacho said. "You'll see a lot of that, but he's good for the program and good for the school."

CU may not be getting the results it wants right now, but Ihenacho has no doubt wins are coming.

"You just have to give it time," Ihenacho said. "The good things aren't formed over night. It takes patience. It takes more than just a year to get the pieces you need to get to win a conference title or go to a bowl game."

Ihenacho is convinced, however, that CU got one major piece in place when it hired MacIntyre in December.

"I've never heard of somebody playing with coach Mac and say they didn't learn something and that he wasn't a good coach," Ihenacho said.